Another issue which existed for a few years after the separation from
Haiti in 1844 was the division between clericals on the one hand and
liberals on the other, a party division that has created havoc in
other parts of Spanish America. The very indefinite claims on each
side and the practical unanimity of the country in its attitude
towards the church caused this issue to disappear.
The real parties that kept see-sawing in and out of power from the
early days of the Republic down to the time of Heureaux were those
founded by General Pedro Santana and General Buenaventura Baez.
Intimate friends in the struggles with Haiti which followed Santo
Domingo's declaration of independence, their ambitious and domineering
natures soon clashed, and each collected a group of friends and
incessantly conspired against the other. The partisans of Baez, or
Baecistas, adopted red for the color of the cockades and ribbons which
distinguished them in the civil wars, and came to be known as the
"Reds," while the followers of Santana, or Santanistas, adopted blue
and were known as the "Blues.
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